The Salvation Trials ✔️

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Winnie Melbourne

Purple Mountain, feared for its unknown innovations in technology and its superior intelligence. A growl rumbles in Bronze's chest as he glances around uneasily. "What's wrong?", I ask Bronze as I open the link between everybody.

He releases another small growl. "I don't like this, Winnie. Nobody knows just what Purple Mountain has done to their wolves to make them stronger, faster, and smarter. We're going in blind."

James releases something between a bark and a laugh. "The big bad wolf who can read the stars is afraid of Purple Mountain?!"

"His fears are valid.", I say as I throw James a sharp glare. "If his mate wasn't the Shadow Wolf.", I add as an afterthought.

"What does being the Shadow Wolf have to do with anything?", Bronze asks.

Ezra pulls ahead of us, watching our surroundings while also listening into the conversation. I mentally nudge Bronze in reassurance. "The Shadows, Bronze. They're everywhere, and I control them. How do you think Red Mountain became so formidable after I became comfortable in my Gamma position? The Shadows are my spies, and they whisper secrets in my ears, as they are doing right now."

"So what should we be aware of?", Ezra asks.

"Purple Mountain's wolves are genetically and physically modified. Their DNA has been tweaked to produce stronger and smarter wolves with incredible speed. Not only that, but most wolves go under physical technological advancements to give them an even greater edge. There are only three wolves in Purple Mountain who have entered the Trials, and two of them are regular pack wolves.

One has two metal front legs, in a sense. She's fast and strong. The second has ribs made of surgical steel, making them near impossible to crush or break. The third is the Alpha. He's the most dangerous. His eyes are technologically advanced with lenses that can predict his opponents next move through body and eye language.", I inform them, relaying what the Shadows were telling me.

"How do they even shift like that?", Bronze questions.

"Easy enough, I guess. If they can use technology to make them better wolves, then why couldn't they make it easier for them to shift with said advancements?", James answers for me.

I send him a grateful look just as a snarl breaks out, loud and full of rage. My head whips over to the left and catches metal glinting in the sunlight before it disappears from my vision. "Metal legs! Tight formation, now! I'll try to use the Shadows to coax her out!", I yell through the link before we press against one another, huddling close.

My mates growl in warning as the Shadows search for her, grasping at nothing. She's fast, far too fast for the Shadows to get a proper location on her. I feel the frustration of my brothers and it only fuels my anger as I think of a new plan.

"She's too fast for my brothers to get her so I have a new plan. You guys stay down here, chase her while I climb through the trees. She'll follow me because I've exposed myself. The second she starts chasing, you go for her. She won't run ahead of me, she'll want to keep my pace so she doesn't lose me.", I inform them.

I don't give them a chance to change my mind about it and they seperate quickly. I shift and scale a tree, sitting on a sturdy limb just as there's a snarl and then the tree shakes. I look down and see the female wolf growling up at me as a gash on her head bleeds before healing over. She jumps up on her hind legs and braces herself against the tree with her front ones, and I see the metal.

"How do those work?!", I call out with a mocking grin on my face. "Were your regular arms too weak so you replaced them with those metal ones?!"

She snarls and circles the tree, clawing at it every now and then. She barks once and my wolf relays the message easily and my mocking grin falls into a thin line. "Those metal arms will do you no good. I'm gonna rip them off of you and then beat you with them."

Before I can change my own mind, I slide myself off of the branch and hurtle towards the ground, aiming for the open jaws of a wolf.